Tag Archives: wanahoo

My dad had originally planned a knee replacement this last winter so that we would have plenty of time to fish in the spring and summer, but then later on in the spring he needed a quick hip replacement. It was a big bummer, but now he was started to get better from the surgeries and we had to get out with the boat! Its also starting to get hot so we decided to get up really early and hit the lake at sunrise.

We got out there in perfect time and got to see a gorgeous sunrise while starting to fish. Some great pictures come with everyone else is still sleeping!

We caught a bass or two around the pier before trying the drop off near the campgrounds. but the shallow spots were very unproductive. So we decided to head for the channel and fish around some deeper timber. We stayed on the south side of the lake and found the channel. It took a few minutes but we did find the fish there. My dad was fishing the Ned Rig and I was fishing a Pig and Jig. We found the fish by throwing out baits in deeper pockets (8-10 feet deep) and in the thick part of the brush piles and deep into the trees. The bites were a little soft and hard to recognize. Often they were just there and we would feel the weight of them on the line. Once they were hooked they were also tough to get to the boat because we were having to fish so deep in the wood piles that they would often wrap around branches or stick us in trees. We caught quite a few doing this and had even more bites that we missed.

After the bit slowed down a little we left and went to try some of the grass spots on the eastern side of the lake but had very little luck there.

Eventually we made it back to where we had caught fish earlier in the day and continued to catch quality fish. It was fun to catch fish but it was just as good to be back on the water with my dad. We will be fishing a lot more the rest of this summer to make up for missing some earlier spring trips!

Lake Ranking: 5 star

This lake is always good for catching fish and usually good quality fish. Always recommend it for people looking to catch good fish that is close to Omaha or Lincoln.

Decided to get out a little early today but apparently it wasn’t early enough! I got to the lake and noticed a lot of trailers in the parking lot, a lot of big boats, wrapped trucks and sponsored boats.. definitely a local tournament going on at the lake today. That’s OK though, with my small boat I can easily get into places a lot of the bigger boats can’t reach.

I started off fishing the pier by the ramp and then moved onto the shallow grass just to the north of it. I did catch a green sunfish pretty quickly and then hooked into a small pike off of the pier which is always a good time!

After fishing around some of the bigger boats I decided to head for more difficult waters. I went under the bridge and back around to the back side (west side) of the island. Here even in my little boat my trolling motor was kicking up mud and I was pumping into trees and stumps, but it was worth it! I love this little spot though, its hard to get to and most big boats can’t even touch it. Sometimes working hard and getting to not well known places pays huge dividends!

I started throwing a bass jig and trailer as well as square bill crank bait that didn’t have a rattle. Both turned out to be golden! I started catching multiple bass all 2 pounds or better, the biggest was just barely over 4! The interesting thing about it was that all of the bass and even the pike I caught all had red fins and tails! Very unique. The fishing were crushing the lures and I often had to use pliers to get the lures from deep within the fish’s mouth.

After fishing around the island and catching around 7 or 8 bass, all 15+ inches I decided to move on and try fishing around some of the other trees without much luck.

Once I was done fishing I talked with someone I knew who was in the tournament a few days later and they said they had caught a few smaller fish but only had one that they checked in for the tournament. I don’t know what the winning weights were but I think I would have had 5 by myself that would have done well. So that made me feel pretty good!

Lake Ranking: 5 Star

This lake always produces good fish. Even during a tournament day I was able to pull off a pretty good bag of fish. Its a great place to catch big fish and a lot of numbers of fish. It’s a busy lake but still big enough for everyone!

My dad and I had been planning to go fishing on this day all week. As the time got closer we checked the weather and noticed it started calling for a rainy day.. Kinda of bummed but it looked like the temperature was still supposed to be decent and it looked like rain only, not to much wind or any lightning. So we decided to pack up our rain suites and give it a go anyways.

We started by fishing the trees and rock jetties around the south side of the lake. The water was pretty clear and even though it was raining we thought we should get into some fish. After fishing for a while with little to no bites we decided to switch it up and we headed north of the walking path.

We noticed immediately after going under the bridge that the water on the north side was much dirtier than the south. But as we started fishing the trees right by the channel on the North side my dad hooked into a nice bass! We switched up our presentations to slower plastics and started catching fish. All of the bass were 2-3 lbs and seemed to be good healthy fish. I also hooked into a large Northern Pike that was a blast to catch.

We still weren’t catching fish like crazy but we had found 4-5 and had some fun catching um. After a while we became tired of the rain and decided to call it a day. Even though the weather wasn’t the greatest Wanahoo never seems to disappoint!

Lake Ranking: 5 star

Even in rainy windy conditions it may have taken us a while to find fish but we did find them and found some quality fish at that. I would recommend Wanahoo to anyone looking to find a good number a fish and some of quality too!

So today my dad had just gotten some work done with his boat and was eager to test it out. My brother and myself met him at the lake mid morning to try our luck at catching some bass.

We got there a little before my dad did with the boat so we started casting from the dock. Within a few minutes I caught a nice 2 12 lb bass on a crank bait right around the ramps. Then when the boat for there we did a few test starts with the motor and thanks to Premier Boating Center in Lincoln the engine now runs great!

We started by fishing around the rocks on the walking pier then moved our way to the north side of the lake fishing around the trees and eventually scooting through the channel. While fishing the channel my dad caught a 3 lb bass on a Texas rigged plastic bait but the fishing was pretty slow.

We then moved back to the south side of the lake and fished some wind blown points but without any luck. After a couple hours we called it a day. We only caught the two fish but they were both big and healthy.

Lake Ranking: 5 star

While today was a little slow on catching fish we really weren’t out there too long and the fish we caught we quality. There are plenty of nice fish in this lake and plenty of ways to catch them. If you haven’t (or even if you have) fished here before I would highly recommend it.

After the fall rains we were getting I had heard that wanahoo water levels were really high and muddy and it got me excited! I love fishing in these conditions and always seem to catch some nice fish.

I had the opportunity to take my brothers did Kirra with me today and she loves going out with me and is an excellent retriever who loves to get wet.

I fished mainly on the south side where it was muddier and stuck closer to the shore where the water was covering new grounds. I fished around rock piles, grass patches and cat tails. I quickly found the fish and caught plenty of them. All the fish were caught on the bass pro ships enticer jig in a black and purple color and when the fish found out they hammered it!

I fished along the west side up to the dam and back before calling it a day. And kirra was excited once we were done because she new I would throw a stick for her!
Enjoy the pictures!

Overall Ranking: 5 Star

Great boat ramp and fishing structure. Good fishing with a lot of diversity in species and a great location being close to Omaha and Lincoln.

Who: Myself
When: May 25th 2014
Where: Lake Wanahoo
Weather: 75 with scattered storms
I had a few hours on this Sunday afternoon and decided to head to one of my favorite places to go fish in Nebraska, lake Wanahoo. It was a partially cloudy day with a chance of storms.
I headed right for the north side of the pier and started fish the channel working my way back to the island. I was mainly throwing a white chatter bait, a fire tiger shallow crank bait and a pig and jig. Once I got to the west side of the island I started catching some fish on the charter bait.
The bite was very suttle today, the fish were not hitting the lures hard but rather just sucking them them on from behind. So I never actually felt the bite all I noticed was that I no longer felt the weight of my lure so I would set the hook and then they would take off with a good fight.
I caught four fish this way that were all between 15-18 inches long before getting a call from my dad saying a storm was headed my way. So I headed toward the dock and loaded the boat right as it started raining, thanks dad! It was shorter but still a good day on the lake! Enjoy the pictures.

Overall Ranking: 5 Star

Great lake with good size, depth and structure. The Game and Parks did a great job and there is great fishing with multiple different species and all have good size. And its never too crowded because of the size.

I almost didn’t make this trip today due to the windy and recent rainy conditions but it cleared up just enough for me to make it and I’m sure glad I did. Because it was still windy today and my boat is extremely light my fishing locations were limited to wherever I could escape the big waves and blowing wind from the NW.

So I started by running to the north side of the walking pier and started fishing right off of the channel. I could still feel the wind pretty good but I hid behind the trees surrounding the channel and they broke up the big waves for me. I was also forced to use heavier lures in order to cast into the wind and since I had anticipated this I already had my lines ready. Today I mainly fished a white spinner bait, a purple plastic worm and a chartreuse square bill crank bait. I had tried a plastic crawdad, a red crank bait and a pig and jig but after catching the first few fish it became obvious they were feeding on baitfish and pan fish, not crustaceans. You can see a picture or two of their fat bellies below.

I had caught one 15 inch fish at this first location but was not getting many strikes. So I took a ride all the way up the channel until it ended. I was now on the far north side of the lake (north of the road bridge) and found the depth was still 8-10 feet in the channel but the rest of the pocket was 2 ft or less. On this north side it has a mud bottom but it has a lot of scattered large rocks. I anchored in the channel and was throwing my spinner bait into the shallow rocks and letting it knock every rock in its path. The bass went nuts over this, I caught 8 fish in a 30 minute span and all of them were between 13-18inches. They were all fat and feeding heavily before the spawn. While here I also hooked into a 24inch Northern Pike which are always a blast to catch.

I then fished my way back out of the channel and caught 4 more bass (all around 14-15inches), 1 more Northern Pike, and then one beautifully colored bullhead. The fish were feeding heavily and they were gathered on the edge of the flats where they will begin to spawn but not too far from the deeper water. All the fish were healthy but I could also tell the Pike were feeding well too because 3-4 of the bass had gashes in their sides from recent attacks (one pictured below).

Today I finished with 14 Bass, 2 Northern Pike, and 1 Bullhead. And after speaking with two other boats it sounded like they struggled to find fish so that’s why it’s always good to pay attention to the patterns the fish are in so you can locate them faster.

If you haven’t been out to this lake yet I would highly recommend it, its a blast. Between the multiple structures to fish the variety of species is fun as well. Enjoy the pictures!

Overall Ranking: 5 Star

Great lake with good boat ramp, docks, camping and trails. Fishing is great with multiple kinds of fish and plenty of depths and structures to find them in.

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Once again I choose to head towards Lake Wanahoo right after a cold front moves in and it was fairly difficult to find the fish, but once you find them they were pretty predictable. There were quite a few other boats out there today. I started fishing in the trees right off the boat ramp with little success and I went under the bridge to the south side of the lake and fished around the islands and isolated trees in deeper water. There were a few bites but nothing came of it.

I started catching fish when I got back in the channel in the middle of the trees and found them hanging off the fallen trees that were hanging over the drop off. The fish were biting on brown creature baits and a chartreuse bass jig, and they were hitting the baits hard as soon as they were coming off of the branches on the inside of the trees. There was a lot of moss in the lake and it was hard to keep it off the lures. And you could also see groups of baitfish hanging around the thicker trees and brush piles.

There were some other bass boats that were passing by us and everyone was saying they had caught a few but that it was a little slow. I fished this all the way back to the rock jetties by the boat ramp and didn’t have any better luck there.

I did talk to one boat who were out there specifically for the Northern Pike and stated they had caught a few. Even though today the bite was a little slow it is still a beautiful lake and the fish here are healthy, I could highly recommend anyone on this side of Nebraska give it a try.

Below are some pictures of today’s trip.

Overall Ranking: 5 Star

Great lake with a lot of big fish of all different species. Good boat ramp and fishing areas.

To our surprise Scott and I were the only boat on the lake this evening. If was the Friday starting the Memorial Day weekend and there were campers and tents everywhere but they all seemed much more content sitting by the fire and partying rather than fishing!

We had heard that the Crappie bite was going really well again but we didn’t make much of an attempt at them because the winds were so strong that we couldn’t keep my little boat in position and were afraid the waves were big enough to actually come into the boat. So knowing that it was close to the Bass Spawning time we headed back to the northern tip of the lake tucked behind and island which is where I had caught quite a few bass the week before.

The weather conditions were rougher today, it was colder, windier, and started off with a few clouds to cover but a front came in after a few hours and dropped the temperature again. I had the same white spinnerbait I had used the week before with a double willow blade, a pumpkin color pig and jig, and also a 4inch black and red crawdad plastic lure Texas Rigged.

The bite was quite a bit slower today compared to last week but we were still catching a few fish. Most of the fish were on the Crawdad being fished really slowly in 2-4ft of water by the trees. After the sun went down we put up our boat lights and continued to fish along the rock jetties near the boat ramp, here we caught a few nice bass holding close to the rocks. These last few were caught on slow rolling a crankbait near the shallow rocks.

We got stopped with near the rocks by two Nebraska Game and Parks Rangers, they check our boat, license, registration etc… they were two really nice guys and I was glad to see them out and enforcing the rules. I for one and someone who greatly appreciates what these men and women do! It makes my trips to the lakes more enjoyable when I know that people are being held accountable to the rules and regulations.

Not long after dark we pulled the boat in and went home. Had a great night on the lake catching some fish.

Below are some pictures from this trip.

Overall Ranking: 5 Star

Great lake with a good ramp, dock and fishing areas. Always fun and with its size even when its busy it doesn’t feel too busy. The fishing is great and has a lot of different species.

Today I took my wife and I to Lake Wanahoo. We got out of work early on Friday to Enjoy the nice weather we were having this week. Here in Nebraska we have had an unusually cold spring and the water temperature hadn’t risen enough for the crappie and bass spawn to be happening sooner.

Lake Wanahoo had just opened to the public in July of 2012 and last fall being out here I had caught plenty of good sized Bass, some nice Crappy and even a few 30+ inch Northern Pike. But this week I had heard that with the higher tempuratures the crappie had become more active and people where starting to catch their limits on some 12″ crappie. So we started the day with jigs and slip bobbers and also trying some smaller crappie crankbaits and spinners. After about an hour or two of not finding the fish I’ll be honest, I got a little bored and switched up to try and catch some bass.

We got back deep in the trees, with a small boat like mine it was very easy to get into some tough spots. started throwing a double willow white lazer eye spinner bait and a 2-3 ft shallow diving crankbait, the firetiger color. We quickly hooked into the bass in the shallower waters, around 1-5ft deep and stayed there. Within the next 2-2.5 hours week caught almost 20 bass all around 13-15inches, we caught 1 or two that were a little bit larger. All of the fish were pre-spawn and still had very large bellies on them (footballs as some people would call them).

As the sun started going down the bite slowed a little bit (and my wife could no longer get a tan) so we decided to head for the dock. We had talked with a few other fisherman on our way and found that people from shore had been catching plenty of sunfish and a few bass. While a boat we talked with said it took them a few hours but they eventually found the crappie and caught quite a few of them.

We had a great day on the lake and look forward to getting back out there. Also I have a few pictures of the trip

Overall Ranking: 5 Star

Great fishing! You can always find a place where a few good sized fish are hanging out. This lake is easy to get into with the park and boat ramp. definitely recommend.